Careless Memories
by Ruby Rosetta Red
Summary: My interpretation of the events prior to 'Faithfully' when Bobby reveals that he has a niece. It's a 'What If' fic. Goren/Eames friendship only. All errors are my own. Please read and rate. One shot.


**A/N: This is my interpretation of the 'niece' question. In 'Faithfully', Bobby reveals that he has a niece. A lot of people have queried this possibility, given that Bobby only had one brother and one nephew. This is a 'what if' and set pre the episode. The characters of Cassie and Molly Lambert are my own, the rest belong to Dick Wolf, NBC, USA etc etc. All errors are my own. Please read and rate. All thoughts appreciated thanks.**

* * *

"Goren, there's a Cassie Lambert here to see you"

"Cassie…Lambert?"

"She says she's your cousin?"

"Yeah…she's here?"

"Waiting to see you"

"Okay. Thanks" He looked across the desk to his partner who seemed to be similarly intrigued.

"My cousin is here" He closed his folder.

"I'd better go see what she wants" he sighed. When family show up at work, it's never good news.

Cassie was his Great Aunt Connie's granddaughter and he hadn't seen her since Frank's funeral. Actually he had been really surprised to see her there considering he hadn't seen her in a long, long time. She sent a card at Christmas and for some weird reason she always remembered his birthday too. For the longest time she'd just been a signature on a card to him.

* * *

He found her in a vacant interrogation room and he made a mental note to reprimand whoever it was that put her there in the first place.

Her resemblance to his mother always startled him. It was almost like going back in time and seeing that picture of her in the suit she got at Gimballs. Her hair was longer though, almost touching her shoulders and as he approached her, he noticed that her eyes were a vivid blue.

"Cassie?" Her head snapped up suddenly and there was the briefest flash of a smile and she got to her feet.

"Hey Bobby" she greeted warmly. They embraced. He held her at arm's length and scanned her face, an old habit that refused to die. The similarities continued; she had the same fragile frame, the shape of the eyes, the smile, as brief as it was. It was her eyes that held his attention the most, all of the family on his mom's side had very Italian dark brown eyes, himself included but hers are a vivid, almost unnerving shade of blue.

"Not that it's not nice to see you here Cassie but?" she sat back down and instead of sitting opposite her, Bobby dragged the remaining chair around to sit beside her.

"Is everything okay?" he enquired. He watched her lift a voluminous black leather purse from the floor and place it on the table between them.

"It depends on your definition of okay Bobby" She watched him frown. She opened her purse

"I don't understand" He watched her extract a folder from inside of it and hand it to him.

"What's this?"

"Read it" her voice became tense and automatically he flipped it open.

"I found all of this a little while ago…when I was sorting through my…my mother's personal belongings"

Bobby realised that he was reading through adoption records and that knowledge surprised him. Cassie was adopted? He frowned. She looked like his mother's side of the family, how could she be….then he came across it. It assaulted his brain with the force of a viciously swung baseball bat.

"I don't…this can't be…" he closed the folder and dropped it onto the table. He shook his head.

"I look like her Bobby; even you've told me that"

"All of my mother's sisters look alike" he argued. Cassie shook her head.

"Grandma told me what happened…"

"Don't you think I would've remembered my mother being _pregnant_?" he yelled and she's shocked into silence.

"With respect Bobby, you were barely five years old" she told him. He got to his feet. His heart thundered in his chest…he barely took it in. He turned his back on her as he tried to remember the time back then. She was right, he had been a kid, his memories of the time were hazy, but he did remember her not being there for what felt like a long period of time. His parent's marriage had begun to disintegrate then, his dad was away for long periods of time and they'd always been fighting, about what he was never quite sure. Maybe now he was starting to realise why.

"I remember Aunt Cathy coming to the city once…" His words tapered off and his eyes widened marginally as memories flowed through him. They were hazy and half formed but through now adult eyes, a little clarity began to seep through. His aunt had stayed for a while.

"To take care of you and Frank…" Cassie confirmed. He turned and looked at her.

"And to take you away…" he said it with the strength of enlightenment.

"It would seem that way. Your…mom was in a bad way…emotionally…and physically and your father wasn't…around…" she watched his eyes widen.

"She told Frank and me…that she'd been in a car accident…." Another look crossed his face, one of horror and he gave her the strangest of looks before sitting down again.

"Did…do you know who your father is?"

"It's not listed and my grandmother didn't know…" Bobby looked at her with new eyes.

It was there, right in front of him. He took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. It didn't do anything to relieve the nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Come on, let's get out of here" he told her instead.

* * *

Cassie followed him into the main artery of Major Case. She remembered that he'd gone into the police academy right out of the army and had risen through the ranks quite quickly. Now he was a detective and she remembered from what her grandma and aunts had said that his job was a demanding one. He'd also coupled that with devoted care of his mother, correction _their_ mother at Carmel Ridge.

She watched him go into a small office and speak to the person inside of it. She gathered that it had to be his boss. The man looked a little irritated, peeved by whatever Bobby was saying to him but after a short while, he gave a brief nod and Bobby turned to leave. She knew that his partner was curious about her; she didn't have to look at her to feel the level of her curiosity burning into her. She straightened slightly when the door to the small office opened and Bobby emerged. She gave a little sigh of relief when he came towards her, collecting a small leather portfolio on the way by. He didn't tell his partner where he was going, just that he was taking a little personal time and that he'd be back as soon as he could. His partner just nodded and she got the impression that this was nothing out of the ordinary for her.

* * *

She read the name on the marker and then looked at him. He was staring at it, his expression intense, as if he was expecting something to happen. She'd had a weird feeling that he would bring her here, to her grave. There were flowers there, white lilies and they looked fresh.

"Let's sit down" he invited and she turned her head. There was a narrow bench nearby and obediently she followed him to it. Together they sat down. Despite the constant activity of the city, here it was peaceful. For a moment or two neither of them spoke and an errant breeze teased at her hair. She lifted a hand to flatten it down.

"Cassie…has anything ever been said about who your …biological….father was or could have been?" Bobby asked her. She looked at him and then turned more fully towards him.

"No. Nothing. If either my mother or my grandmother knew then they didn't say" She watched him, saw how he nodded perceptibly. Then he looked at her, square in the eye.

"Last year, when my mom was…dying…I got sucked into…something…it was something completely…unexpected" he began and he paused. She watched how he chewed on his bottom lip. Then he took a sudden deep breath.

"I found out... that the man who I'd thought was my father…actually…wasn't…" he admitted on a rush. She frowned marginally. That had been difficult for him to admit. His expression remained uncomfortable.

"Do you know who is?" This time Bobby looked away and his answering nod was barely noticeable. Cassie let out a sigh.

"And you think that he…that he could be my father too?" her voice rose and he looked sharply at her.

"Who is he? And more to the point _where _is he?" she demanded.

"Cassie…maybe it's not worth…"

"Oh no…you don't get to do this…you opened the door Bobby…"

"Cassie…maybe we should wait on the results of a DNA test… just in case" He watched as she shook her head fiercely.

"Tell me…"

"Cassie….uh…."

"Damn it, are you going to tell me or do I talk to someone else?" she snapped in irritation. He swallowed. There was nobody else…in total maybe three people knew the truth of his own paternity. He sighed. The hell with it, she wanted to know.

"His name was Mark Ford Brady. He was a serial killer on death row, he was executed last spring" he retorted bluntly. He watched her turn absolutely white and her mouth drop open in shock.

"Oh no…oh God…no…" he watched her cover her mouth with both hands and lean over. Automatically Bobby moved closer to her, he grasped her by her shoulders and helped her to straighten up. He pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her. He waited until the aftershocks had simmered down. He shouldn't have opened his big mouth, he could deal with this bombshell but she couldn't, _Cassie_ couldn't. He swallowed and hated himself all over again.

"God Bobby…and he's your father?" her voice was muffled against his jacket. He rubbed her back with one big hand.

"He fathered me….but he wasn't my father, no more than he was…yours…" he replied huskily.

"You think he…oh God I can't even say it…" he felt her begin to shake again.

"The more I think about it, the more I'm... certain. It's your eyes…." He admitted. She moved away from him and looked at him.

"My…eyes?" He reached out and with one long index finger, traced beneath both of them with infinite gentleness.

"Yeah…they're really…blue….there's no one in the family with eyes like that…" He watched as they widened.

"My mom said it was just a…genetic quirk…"

"And it might be…I might be wrong but a DNA test would confirm it…or not…"

"The proof being if my test matches up with yours?" His answering nod was brief.

"You don't have to do this…you had a great upbringing, your dad was the man who raised you…you don't need to do this…" he reminded her. He released his hold on her and watched her. She straightened up and almost threw back her shoulders. The gesture reminded him of his mother, back before she became truly sick, when she'd had to face down an unpleasant obstacle.

He almost smiled.

"I do…I think I do…I need to know…"she looked at him again and a tentative smile tipped the corners of her mouth upwards.

"How…how do you feel having a sister Bobby?" she asked him in a gentle voice. He blinked. A sister, he had a younger sister which meant that he was an older brother. Something gave way in his chest.

"Do you have room in your life for a brother?" he asked her. It was her turn to blink. The tone was almost defensive, as if he expected her to reject him.

"You're _family_ Bobby" she reminded him.

"All of my family…left me…every single one of them"

"That wasn't your fault" He wanted to ask her whether that was strictly true. She reached across and took his hand.

"We're here Bobby and we're not going anywhere" He frowned and tilted his head slightly to one side.

"We?" He watched her as she let go of his hand and reached for that huge purse again. He saw her extract her wallet and open it. She extracted a passport sized photograph and handed it to him. He took it and looked at it.

"That's Molly; she's my nine year old daughter" He saw dark curly hair, curious blue eyes and a wide, cheeky grin that could warm the toughest of hearts. He had the strangest feeling that she could and would very easily do that to his.

"She's…she's very sweet"

"Oh you don't know that half of it… she's nine going on nineteen, the love and also the bane of my life" he handed the picture back to her and smiled at the pride colouring her voice.

"She's also off the chart smart, brightest kid in her class, forever asking questions and expecting me to know the answers"

"Sounds exhausting"

"It can be, I think you and she would get along like a house on fire" she tacked on and she watched him shift in his seat.

"Maybe" She dropped her wallet back into her purse.

"But first things first, right?" He just nodded.

"First things first"

* * *

Eames was very curious. It had been a couple of months since Bobby's cousin had appeared at the Bullpen. Since then it had all been a little cloak and dagger. He'd taken that day off and disappeared with her only to return the following day, pensive and close mouthed. Oh yeah, he wasn't exactly an unburden and share type of guy to begin with, but she was very curious all the same. Since then his cousin had appeared a couple of times more, one of those times with a young girl of about nine years old with bright, snappy blue eyes whom he'd introduced to her as being Molly Lambert. To her surprise he'd shown mother and daughter around the squad room and answered the seemingly endless fountain of questions that had issued from the child's mouth with infinite patience and…_pride?_ What was going on here? Bobby wouldn't say a word on the matter.

* * *

He met her off the Staten Island ferry. It was a cool, breezy day and she was genuinely surprised to see him waiting for her.

"I thought you were spending time with your family?" she enquired as they began to walk. Bobby shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and hunched his shoulders in that familiar manner of his.

"I was…but then this case dropped…" he began awkwardly. They reached the SUV and Bobby handed her the key. They got in and fastened their seatbelts.

"I'm sure the Captain would've understood…under the circumstances…"

"Eames…Cassie Lambert…she's not my cousin…she's my…sister…" Alex's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really? Wow…." She stared blindly ahead as she absorbed that piece of information and also the fact that Bobby had shared it with her so willingly.

"That's why she showed up…the first time…we also…share the same…father…" he added.

"So she's your full sister" It wasn't a question and he nodded.

"Yeah"

"How's she taking it?" she started up the engine.

"Taking what? The brother part or having the serial killer for a father part?" he asked. She glanced at him.

"Either…both…" A tiny frown furrowed his brow. He shrugged marginally.

"Okay…I guess…" he replied. He had gone with her to get the test, sat with her when she'd got the results and held her when the truth was revealed.

"He may have fathered her but that was all he did" He watched his partner manoeuvre the SUV into busy traffic. She nodded.

"Words to live by" she reminded him. He nodded as he stared ahead.

Words indeed.

**FIN.**


End file.
